Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The city was founded by a group of German Moravinas on 24 December 1741, and it was named for Jesus' birthplace. In 1845, the prosperous village became a borough, and it became a city in 1917. Bethlehem became a center of heavy industry and trade during the Industrial Revolution, and Bethlehem Steel (1857-2003) became the second-largest steel company in the United States and one of the largest shipbuilding companies in the world (building 1,100 warships during the World Wars). By the 1970s, cheaper, imported foreign steel began to replace American steel, leading to the decline of the manufacturing industry in the USA. In 1982, Bethlehem Steel shut down many of its operations, and restructuring and shutdowns continued through the 1990s. At the end of 1995, Bethlehem ceased its steel-making operations. Over the past two decades, shops and restaurants took the places of factories. In 2016, Bethlehem had a population of 75,293 people.